Dogfall: An Award-Winning Drama in Two Acts by Scot Lahaie
Dogfall is a play written by American playwright Scot Lahaie. Constructed as a dialectic, this play explores the extreme positions (both politically and socially) represented in the Right-to-Die debate active in the United States over the last twenty-five years. Although the play's focus is on doctor-assisted suicide, the author explores the whole of the ethical quagmire represented in the right-to-die movement—abortion, euthanasia, sanctity of life, the life to come, religious zealotry and more.
The action of the play takes place in a mostly abandoned tenement building in Dallas, Texas. Mike Howard—a radical from the far religious right—has kidnapped Dr. Jake McKenzie—Dallas’ famed suicide doctor—with the intent to serve his own homegrown justice upon the doctor, since the courts have yet to convict him of any wrongdoing. Mike presents evidence of McKenzie’s wrongdoing in a mock trial while silencing McKenzie’s attempt to justify his actions. Underestimating his elderly captive, Mike lets his guard down and is overpowered by the wily physician. Instead of escaping his captor, McKenzie places the now chained radical on trial in like manner, an opportunity the doctor uses to defend his own actions and give voice to the radical left. The plot takes an unexpected turn as the play reaches its climax, throwing both characters into turmoil.
The action of the play takes place in a mostly abandoned tenement building in Dallas, Texas. Mike Howard—a radical from the far religious right—has kidnapped Dr. Jake McKenzie—Dallas’ famed suicide doctor—with the intent to serve his own homegrown justice upon the doctor, since the courts have yet to convict him of any wrongdoing. Mike presents evidence of McKenzie’s wrongdoing in a mock trial while silencing McKenzie’s attempt to justify his actions. Underestimating his elderly captive, Mike lets his guard down and is overpowered by the wily physician. Instead of escaping his captor, McKenzie places the now chained radical on trial in like manner, an opportunity the doctor uses to defend his own actions and give voice to the radical left. The plot takes an unexpected turn as the play reaches its climax, throwing both characters into turmoil.
